Microactuators, and particularly electrostatic microactuators, have heretofore been provided. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,906 and International Publication Number WO 00/36740. Such microactuators can be utilized in microdevices, for example in the telecommunications industry and in the data storage industry, for moving optical elements. See, for example, International Publication Number WO 00/36447 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,207. It has been found that applied external accelerations can undesirably effect the performance of microdevices employing microactuators.
What is needed, therefore, is a microdevice that is substantially mechanically balanced such that an element moved thereby does not appreciably move when subjected to external accelerations.
What is also needed is a rotary electrostatic microactuator that rotates about a pivot point disposed outside the confines of the microactuator.